Insert attachment for wrapping machines



Sept. 24, 1929. F. R. SCHMITT INSERT ATTACHMENT FOR WRAPPING MACHINES Filed May 9, 1928 INVENTO 66 /2M @Q/ 11 I I I ATTORNEY,

Patented Sept. "24, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FRANK E. SCHMITT, or BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR 'ro AMERICAN MACHINE & FOUNDRY COMPANY, A GORPORA'IION on NEW JERSEY INSERT ATTACHMENT FOR WRAPPING MACHINES Application filed May 9, 1928.

respect to the article, but to be lost altogether before the article is wrapped. The improved device delivers the card to the article at the time of wrapping when the article is in the wrapping position, thereby eliminating the chance of displacement or loss. Another object of the invention is to produce such a device which will be independent of the type of article feeding chute used in the wrapping machine, and which can be readily adjusted for different sizes of packages to be wrapped by the machine, and to place the insert in different positions in the package when desired. WVith these and other objects not specifically mentioned in view, the invention consists in certain constructions and combinations which will be hereinafter fully described and then specifically set forth in the claims hereunto appended. I

In the general operation of the device, the inserts are stacked on edge in an inclined receptacle or magazine, from the lower end of which they are taken by means of a continuously rotating rubber lined segment which pulls them out and pushes them between two co-operating conveyor belts which grip and convey them to the folding unit of the wrapping machine, where they are caught between the advancing article and the wrapper at the moment when the latter is folded around the former. The receiving ends of the card conveying belts are mounted on the magazine supporting frame, and the drive means for the attachment is provided with universal joints, so that the device as a whole may be placed in any convenient position on the wrapping machine frame, and can be adjusted to change the location of the insert in the wrapped package or to permit adjust- Serial No. 276,425.

ment for different sizes of packages while the machine is in operation.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top view of the improved insert attachment, the distant portion of the drive and insert conveyor being omitted from this view;

Fig. 1 is the continuation of Fig. 1, showing the delivery end of the insert conveyor and the package folding position;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the insert attachment, partly broken away; and

Fig. 2 is a continuation of Fig. 2, partly broken away, showing the arrangement of the driving means for the attachment.

In carrying the invention into effect, there is provided an insert magazine, two coacting belts extending sidewise from the front end of said magazine to convey inserts placed within their coacting surfaces and a rotating segment in front of said magazine and successively moving the inserts from said magazine into the bight of said belts to be carried thereby into the range of action of wrapping mechanism. In the best constructions also, the two coacting belts are of differ ent. lengths and a plate coacts with the long belt beyond the short bolt, the insert being carried by'the long belt and the plateinto the range of action of the wrapping mechanism. In the best constructions contemplated,

means are provided whereby the attachment may be moved in two directions to position the insert with respect to the wrapping mechanism. The means above referred to may be widely varied in construction within the scope of the claims, for the particular machine selected to illustrate the invention is but one of many possible embodiments of the same. The invention therefore is not to be restricted to the precise details of the structure shown and described.

Referring to the drawings, the inserts C are stacked in the inclined receptacle or magazine 5, which is supported by the bracket 6. The bracket 6, which forms the supporting base for the entire attachment, is slidably mounted for movement in one direction on a frame 7 which in turn is slidably supported for movement at right angles to the first 100 ing 51.

movement on rods 8 and 9 secured to the wrapping machine and this frame may be locked thereon by any suitable means as a set screw. The device as a whole is thus readily adjustable both in a longitudinal and lateral direction to permit delivery of the insert to the position desired.

Below the magazine is located the segment 10 having a rubber insert engaging surface arranged to successively pull the inserts out of the magazine and move them into the bight of the conveyor belts 37 and 38. This segment which is mounted on a shaft 11 journalled in the bracket 6, is rotated by means of bevel gears 12 and 13 through a shaft 14, which is connected by a universal oint 15 with the drive shaft 16. This universal joint renders the drive flexible so that it does not interfere with the above adjustments of the bracket 6.

The magazine 5 consists of two side walls 17 and 18, the latter slotted lengthwise, a rear wall 19, and a bottom 20, which are held together by the cross bar 21 and the guide plate 22, the overhanging upper end of the magazine being supported by the strut 23 attached to bracket 6. The inserts C in the magazine are pressed against the guide plate 22 by the end plate 24 fastened to an arm 25 slidably mounted in a frame 26 attached to the side wall 18 and extending through the slot therein. The arm 25 exerts pressure on the rear of the stack of inserts by means of a weight 27, which is suspended by a wire rope 28 fastened to the arm 25 and guided over a roller 29' held by a stud .30 on the frame 26.

The insert moved out of the magazine 5 1s caught in the bight of the two contacting moving rubber belts 37 and 38, the former longer than and extending beyond the latter, which run over pulleys 39 and 40 on shafts 41 and 42, and over pulleys 13 and l on shafts 45 and 46, respectively. The shaft .41 is supported by a ball bearing 17 located in the bracket 6, and by a bearing in the bracket 34-. The shaft L2 is held between two blocks 18 attached to the plate 22. The shaft 415 rests in a ball bearing 19 of a bracket attached to the plate22 and in a bearing 51 also attached to the plate 22. The shaft 46 is held by blocks 52 fastened to the plate 22. The drive shaft 11 has a helical gear 53 in mesh with a gear 54: on a shaft 55, which is supported by the bracket 6 and the bear- Another helical gear 56 on the shaft is in mesh with a gear 57 on the shaft 41. A helical gear 58 on the shaft 41 transmits its motion to a gear 59 on the shaft 45. The overhanging portion of the plate 22 is supported by a side bar 60 fastened to the bracket 6, and by a brace 61 fastened to the bracket 50 and to the block 52, the plate 22 being cut out to allow the belts 37 and 38 to run flush with the face of the plate.

Upon leaving the belt 38 (Fig'l the insert G is moved underneath a grooved cover plate 62 by the longer belt 37. The cover plate 62 is attached to the plate 22, covering the cut out end portion of the latter, in which the belt 87 runs. The insert G then is pushed from between the belt 37 and the plate 62 into the path of the advancing article A, and is caught between the wrapping paper B and the article A on table 63 (Fig. 1 at the moment when the plunger 64 pushes the article against the wrapping paper.

To insure placing of the insert C in the proper wrapping position for different sizes of packages, or to vary the positions of inserts in the package as desired, thevposition of the bracket 6 can be adjusted by turning the handwheel 65 on shaft 66, which is journalled in frame 7 and screws into a lug of bracket 6, and by sliding frame 7 supporting the bracket along the rods 8 and 9.

The drive shaft 16 (Fig. 2 is operated by a shaft 67 in a sleeve 68 located in a housing 69 attached to a frame portion 7 O on the wrapping machine. Shafts 16 and 67 are coupled by the universal oint 71 which, together with the universal joint 15 and a sliding key connecting the attachment end of shaft 16, permits the adjustments of bracket 6 already described.

Sleeve 68 has secured on it the bevel gear 72 in mesh with the bevel gear 73 on the shaft 74 of the wrapping machine. The disk 75 mounted on sleeve 68 projects into a recess of disk 76 mounted on shaft 67, the latter disk carrying the axially sli'dable pin 77 registering with a hole in the former disk. The spring 78, when released, causes the pin 77 to snap into engagement with disk 75, thereby coupling disks 75 and 76, and transmitting the motion of sleeve 68 to the insert attachment operating shaft 67. When pin 77 is pulled out of engagement with disk 7 5, a lateral projection or nose 79, which passes through a slot in disk 76, clears the slot and on turning the pin locks the same in inoperative position, putting the insert attachment out of operation.

The attachment is thus intergeared with the wrapping machine and the ratios of the above described gears are such that an insert will be moved to the wrapping position by the attachment just as often as a wrapper and article are fed to wrapping position by the wrapping machine.

hat is claimed is: V

1. In an inserting attachment for Wrapping machines, the combination with an insert magazine, of two coacting belts of different lengths extending sidewise from the front end of said magazine, a plate coacting with the long belt beyond the short belt, and a rotating segment in front of said magazine and successively moving the inserts from said magazine into the bight of said belts to be carried thereby and by the long belt and said lei plate into the range of action of wrapping mechanism.

2. In an inserting attachment for wrapping machines, the combination with an in-' sert magazine, of two coacting belts extending sidewise from the front end of said maga zine, a rotating segment in front of said magazine and successively moving the inserts from said magazine into the bight of said belts to be carried thereby into the range of action of wrapping mechanism, and gearing continuously operating said belts and said segment.

3. In an inserting attachment for wrapping machines, the combination with an insert magazine, of two coacting belts extending si'dewise from the front end of said magazine, a rotating segment in front of said magazine and successively moving the inserts from said magazine into the bight of said belts to be carried thereby into the range of action of wrapping mechanism, and means whereby the attachment may be moved in two directions.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

FRANK R. SCHMITT. 

